Jimmy Greaves was one of England’s true greats.
Greaves sadly died at the age of 81 and remains the greatest goalscorer in the history of the English top flight, with stats Cristiano Ronaldo would be proud of.
He starred for Chelsea, Milan, Tottenham and West Ham in addition to winning the hearts and minds of millions as one half of Saint and Greavsie post-retirement.
He sadly missed England’s crowning glory at the 1966 World Cup and was only presented with his winners medal in 2009.
Greaves scored 44 goals in 57 England games, but missed out on the final against West Germany, having lost his place to Geoff Hurst in earlier rounds when he was injured.
Below, talkSPORT.com takes a look at the incredible numbers behind Greaves’ prolific career.
44 – His international goals, fourth on England’s all-time list behind Wayne Rooney, Sir Bobby Charlton and Gary Lineker.
57 – caps for his country, far fewer than any other England player with 40 or more goals.
6 – international hat-tricks, still a record. That includes four-goal hauls against Northern Ireland in 1963 and Norway in 1966. 41 – league goals for Chelsea in the 1960-61 season, during which he turned 21.
114 – goals scored for the youth team after signing for Chelsea in 1956.
17 – Greaves’ age when he made his first-team debut for Chelsea, scoring in a 1-1 draw with Tottenham.
100 – number of league goals Greaves had scored by the age of 20. He remains the youngest player to reach the landmark.
£99,999 – fee paid by Tottenham to sign him from AC Milan – manager Bill Nicholson was seeking to protect Greaves from the pressure of being Britain’s first £100,000 player.
266 – goals in his 10 years at Tottenham, making him the club’s record scorer. He is also seventh on Chelsea’s all-time list with 132.
5 – major honours won in his career – the 1966 World Cup with England, two FA Cups and a European Cup Winners’ Cup with Spurs and a Serie A title with Milan.
780 – Greaves’ England legacy number, issued in November 2019 to mark the Three Lions’ 1,000th international match and meaning he was the 780th man to play for England.
2009 – the year Greaves was awarded a World Cup medal – he had been excluded having not played in the 1966 final but a change in FIFA rules saw all squad members rewarded.
talkSPORT will mark the sad passing of the legendary England Striker and Tottenham’s all time leading goal scorer Jimmy Greaves on Monday night from 7pm.
‘English Football Genius’ a tribute to Jimmy Greaves is hosted by Spurs fan and talkSPORT’s Danny Kelly.